Kung Fu Season 2 Episode Summaries:
Episode 1 - "The Well";
Written by Kittridge Barton; Directed by Jerry Thorpe; 9/27/73
Sickened by tainted water, Caine recovers at the farm of an ex-slave who has working well - but whose embittered spirit keeps him from sharing the water with his drought-stricken neighbors.
Episode 2 - "Assassin";
Written by Spooner Glass & Dan Ullman; Directed by Jerry Thorpe; 10/4/73
A long-festering blood feud keeps young lovers from hostile families apart...and puts Caine on a showdown course with a murderous ninja employed by one of the families.
Episode 3 - "The Chalice";
Written by William Kelley; Directed by Jerry Thorpe; 10/11/73
Caine promises a dying priest that he will return the liturgical chalice the priest stole, plunging the Shaolin into conflict with covetous thugs...and sparking Caine's recall of events that followed Master Po's death.
Episode 4 - "The Brujo";
Written by Katharyn Terry 7 Michael Michaelian; Directed by Richard Lang; 10/25/73
A powerful male witch paralyzes a small town with fear and death. But Caine, drawing on the experience gained when he fell under a sorcerer's sway while he was a boy, knows how to fight evil.
Episode 5 - "The Squawman";
Written by Arthur Dales; Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey; 11/1/73
Marcus is welcome...as long as the townsfolk don't also have to welcome his Indian wife. But Caine helps hardluck Marcus to see there's much more to self-worth than the whiskey and approval of others.
Episode 6 - "The Spirit-Helper";
Written by John t. Dugan; Directed by Walter Doniger; 11/8/73
Is Caine the answer to a young Indian brave's prayer? The youth is convinced Caine is his Spirit Guide as the two set out to rescue the boy's kidnapped mother.
Episode 7 - "The Tong";
Written by Robert Schlitt; Directed by Robert Totten; 11/15/73
Slave child Wing flees his master and is sheltered by Caine and amissionary woman, leading to a confrontation between the Shaolin priest and Chinese crimelords who demand the return of the boy.
Episode 8 - "The Soldier";
Teleplay by Ed Waters; Story by Calvin Clements. Jr.; Directed by Richard Lang; 11/29/73
His duty is to shoot to kill when so ordered. But a cavalry lieutenant unable to take a life finds another way to prove his heroism after he falls under the influence of a fugitive he captures - named Caine.
Episode 9 - "The Salamander";
Written by Del Reisman; Directed by Richard Lang; 12/6/73
Caine seeks work in a mining boomtown gone bust and becomes a confidant to a mentally troubled youth...and a target in a claim jumper's treachery.
Episode 10 - "The Hoots";
Teleplay by Lionel E. Siegel; Story by Jason McKinnon; Directed by Robert Totten; 12/13/73
Members of the peaceful Hutterite religious sect offer no resistance when persecuted by cattlemen... until they learn from Caine that, like the chameleon, they can change and yet remain the same.
Episode 11 - "The Elixir";
Written by A. Martin Zweiback; Directed by Walter Doniger; 12/20/73
Caine rescues the hawkers of the cure-all Theodora's Elixir from a hostile crowd, earning the come-hither gratitude of Theodora and the resentment of her jealous male partner.
Episode 12 - "The Gunman";
Written by Robert Lewin; Directed by Richard Lang; 1/3/74
The nature of love is explored in this tale of a gunslinger whose quick-draw defense of Caine and a ranch widow makes him the object of a posse's search...and the victim of an jumpy bounty hunter.
Episode 13 - "Empty Pages of a Dead Book";
Written by Charles A. McDaniel; Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey; 1/10/74
A son tries to honor his deceased Texas Ranger father by bringing to justice criminals the lawman had listed in a book. But good intentions based on wrong premises lead to trouble for the son and Caine.
Episode 14 - "A Dream Within a Dream";
Written by John T. Dugan; Directed by Richard Lang; 1/17/74
Caine reports that he saw a corpse hanging in a marsh. But no one in town believes Caine's report, and no body is subsequently found-yet the town's populace is mysteriously on edge.
Episode 15 - "The Way of Violence Has No Mind";
Written by David Michael Korn; Directed by Lee Philips; 1/24/74
The gun or the priest: which will triumph? A Chinese immigrant gang that has adopted the violent ways of the American outlaw is challenged by the physical and spiritual strength of Caine.
Episode 16 - "In Uncertain Bondage";
Written by Abe Polsky & Ed Waters; Directed by Richard Lang; 2/7/74
When Caine and a southern belle are held captive in a deep pit by kidnappers that include the woman's servants, it prompts his recall of lessons about the server and the served.
Episode 17 - "Night of the Owls, Day of the Doves";
Teleplay by Ed Waters; Story by Frank Dandridge & Ed Waters; Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey; 2/14/74
Land bequeathed to brothel prostitutes will help them build new lives if vengeful cattlemen don't seize the land. Caine defends the women...and also rights a long-ago wrong done by the Shaolin priesthood.
Episode 18 - "Crossties";
Written by Robert Schlitt; Directed by Richard Lang; 2/21/74
Caine is the man in between during a land-rights war between farmers and railroad agents, trying to persuade farmers to accept an offer of amnesty and trying to stop agents from using amnesty as a trap.
Episode 19 - "Passion of Chen Yi";
Written by John T. Dugan; Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey; 2/28/74
Unable to visit a wrongly jailed ex-Shaolin disciple, Caine commits a crime so that he can be put behind bars near him-and perhaps both right an old misunderstanding and help free the ex-Shaolin.
Episode 20 - "Arrogant Dragon";
Teleplay by Katharyn & Michael Michaelian; Story by Barbara Melzer; Directed by Richard Lang; 3/14/74
Judgment if clear: Wu Chang must take his own life or face death at the hands of a Tong executioner. But Caine contemplates a third option, one that can help Wu Chang fake his death and escape the Tong terror.
Episode 21 - "The Nature of Evil"; Written by Gerald Sanford; Directed by Rober Michael Lewis; 3/21/74
An ominous killer hold the town of Ninevah in his evil grip, and only fearless but aged blind preacher Serenity Johnson and his devoted friend Caine dare to confront him.
Episode 22 - "The Cenopath Part 1";
Written by William Kelley; Directed by Richard Lang; 4/4/74
Logan McBurney hijacks the armored gold transport Old Ironsides to haul the enormous box that he says contains his wife. As Caine rides with him, the eccentric Scotsman's devotion prompts memories.
Episode 23 - "The Cenopath Part 2";
Written by William Kelley; Directed by Richard Lang; 4/11/74
What's inside McBurney's big box? What happens to Caine's love affair with Mayli? And will McBurney ever understand that The Tao is not a cow? Patience, grasshoppers, all will be revealed.